Hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy: progress toward therapeutic targets.

The concept of hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy is as exciting as that of stem cell transplantation itself. The past 20 years of research have led to improved techniques for transferring and expressing genes in hematopoietic stem cells and preclinical models now routinely indicate the ease with which new genes can be expressed in repopulating stem cells of multiple species. Both modified murine oncoretroviruses and lentiviruses transmit genes into the genome of hematopoietic stem cells and allow expression in the host following transplantation. Using oncoretroviruses, therapeutic genes for severe combined immunodeficiency, common variable gamma chain immunodeficiency, chronic granulomatous disease, Hurler's and Gaucher's Disease have all been used clinically with only modest success except for the patients with immunodeficiency in whom a partial T-cell chimerism has been dramatic. Since stem cell selection in vivo appears important to the therapeutic success of gene transfer, drug resistance selection, most recently using the MGMT gene, has been developed and appears to be safe. Future trials combining a drug resistance and therapeutic gene are planned, as are trials using safety-modified lentiviruses. The therapeutic potential of hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy, particularly given recent advances in stem cell plasticity, remains an exceptionally exciting area of clinical research.

Applied molecular evolution of O6-benzylguanine-resistant DNA alkyltransferases in human hematopoietic cells.

Applied molecular evolution is a rapidly developing technology that can be used to create and identify novel enzymes that nature has not selected. An important application of this technology is the creation of highly drug-resistant enzymes for cancer gene therapy. Seventeen O(6)-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) mutants highly resistant to O(6)-benzylguanine (BG) were identified previously by screening 8 million variants, using genetic complementation in Escherichia coli. To examine the potential of these mutants for use in humans, the sublibrary of AGT clones was introduced to human hematopoietic cells and stringently selected for resistance to killing by the combination of BG and 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea. This competitive analysis between the mutants in human cells revealed three AGT mutants that conferred remarkable resistance to the combination of BG and 1,3-bis(2-chloroethyl)-1-nitrosourea. Of these, one was recovered significantly more frequently than the others. Upon further analysis, this mutant displayed a level of BG resistance in human hematopoietic cells greater than that of any previously reported mutant.

Preferential S phase entry and apoptosis of CD4(+) T lymphocytes of HIV-1-infected patients after in vitro cultivation.

We have studied the relationship between spontaneous apoptosis and cell cycle perturbations in circulating peripheral blood lymphocytes of HIV-1-infected patients and healthy controls. PBMC obtained from HIV-1-infected patients and healthy controls were incubated in culture medium for 48 h. Cells were separated into CD4(+) and CD8(+) populations using immunomagnetic beads. Apoptosis and cell cycle phases were measured by propidium iodide staining and bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation followed by flow cytometric analyses. In experiments using cells obtained from HIV-1-infected patients, spontaneous apoptosis was more frequent in CD4(+) T lymphocytes than in CD8(+) T lymphocytes (17.6% vs 9.5%, P < 0.005). Among healthy controls, spontaneous apoptosis in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes was comparable (4.5% vs 5.1%). Lymphocytes obtained from patients were more frequently in S phase than healthy controls' cells (2.2 +/- 0.9% vs 0.5 +/- 0.2%, P < 0.002) and patients' CD4(+) cells tended to enter S phase more frequently than controls' CD4(+) cells (4.2% +/- 3.5% vs 1.8% +/- 0.5% P < 0.04), whereas the frequency of S phase CD8(+) T cells was not different among patients (2.8% +/- 2.9%) and controls (1.8% +/- 0.5%) (P > 0.4). Kinetic analyses using BrdU and PI staining revealed that S phase cells were more likely to become apoptotic than resting (G(0)-G(1)) cells (28.4% +/- 10.3% vs 11.3% +/- 9.9% in patients, P < 0.04, and 15.3% +/- 2.8% vs 1.8% +/- 0.5% in controls, P < 0.003). Lymphocytes obtained from HIV-1-infected persons are activated in vivo to enter S phase and to undergo spontaneous apoptosis after brief in vitro cultivation. The present studies indicate that most apoptotic cells in this system are CD4(+) and kinetic analyses reveal that S phase cells are more likely to undergo spontaneous apoptosis than G(0)-G(1) cells. Accelerated cell death in HIV-1 disease may contribute to the failure of lymphocyte responsiveness to appropriate T cell receptor stimulation.